Malcolm Shabazz, Grandson of Malcolm X, Killed in Mexico

Malcolm Lateef Shabazz, the son of Qubilah Shabazz (the second of Malcolm X’s six daughters) was killed in Mexico early today. He was 28. Malcolm Shabazz reportedly died of injuries suffered while being robbed in Mexico City early Thursday morning.

In 1997, when he was 12 years old, Shabazz set a fire at the apartment building of his grandmother Betty Shabazz. She was burned over 80% of her body and died three weeks after the incident. Malcom Shabazz was staying with his grandmother in Yonkers, New York while his mother was in San Antonio serving the terms of a plea agreement in connection with a plot to kill Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Qubilah Shabazz had witnessed the assassination of her father, Malcolm X, in 1965. Malcolm Shabazz reportedly barely knew his father. Farrakhan and Shabazz later reached a “truce” after Farrakhan supported Qubilah Shabazz with financial and legal support in the case.

Malcolm Shabazz was sentenced to less than two years in juvenile detention for arson and manslaughter after the Yonkers fire. He is survived by two daughters and his mother. Accoding to the New York Amsterdam News, “he was in the process of writing two books, at least one of which was a manuscript, and he was attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.”

Twitter: @LVBurke / Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist who analyses politics and justice reform. She created Crewof42.com, a blog that covers the work of African American members of Congress, in 2009. Ms. Burke has also been a staffer for the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and Director of Communications for Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN). She has had a very diverse career in politics and media and appears weekly on NewsOneNow with Roland Martin. She has also appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Politics Nation with Al Sharpton and Up with Steve Kornacki on MSNBC. She is also a contributing writer for NBCNews.com and TheRoot.com
Ms. Burke was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up on Long Island. She holds a B.A. in History from The American University. E-mail: LBurke007@gmail.com. Instagram: LVB325.

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